Marcus Grönholm - FIA World Rally Champion 2000

20 years ago Marcus Grönholm / Timo Rautiainen (Peugeot Sport) won the FIA World Rally Championship at Wales Rally GB 2000 🏆

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The WRC is the FIA World Rally Championship, a tough motorsport using rally cars on real roads around the world. Watch the best rally drivers battle on gravel and asphalt roads with mud, rain, dust, ice and heat! Watch high speed action as the rally drivers power slide and drift round narrow corners, go flat out over a big jump or through a watersplash, handbrake turn round a hairpin, survive a big moment, or have a massive crash! Rally requires maximum attack and careful tactics to become world rally champion.

Each rally has timed sections called special stages, on closed roads. Drivers complete these stages as quickly as possible. A co-driver reads pace notes that explain the hazards ahead. Rally drivers use the same rally car to travel to each stage on public roads, following normal traffic regulations. The crew which completes all the stages in the shortest time is the rally winner. Championship points are won using the same scoring system as Formula 1. The championship is administered by Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), motorsport's world governing body.

Over 30 countries have hosted WRC rallies. Rally Monte Carlo, Rally Argentina, Rally Finland, Rally Portugal, Tour de Corse on Corsica, France, Rally Sardegna on Sardinia, Italy, Safari Rally in Kenya, Acropolis Rally in Greece, Rally New Zealand, Rally Australia, Rally Japan, Rally GB, Rally Catalunya, Rallye Deutschland, Rally Mexico and many more.

Some of the world's greatest drivers have won the FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers, like Colin McRae, Carlos Sainz, Walter Röhrl, Stig Blomqvist, Petter Solberg, Ott Tänak. The list of world rally champions includes many Finnish rally drivers like Juha Kankkunen, Tommi Mäkinen, Ari Vatanen, Marcus Grönholm, Hannu Mikkola. French drivers have had success with Sébastien Ogier, and 9 times world champion Sébastien Loeb. Famous drivers from other motorsports have come to try rally driving like Ken Block from Rallycross, and Robert Kubica and Kimi Räikkönen from F1.

Car companies compete for the prestigious FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers awarded to the most successful WRC constructor. Winners include Citroen, Hyundai, Volkswagen and Peugeot. Ford have had success with the Ford Escort, Ford Focus and Ford Fiesta when the M-Sport team won in 2017.
The 1980's featured the iconic Group B rally cars like the Lancia 037 and Delta S4, Peugeot 205 T16, MG Metro 6R4, Ford RS200 and Audi Quattro.

[dimonrallyfun]

The Golden years of the WRC. Great pilots, great personalities. Real emotion.

[avflashback]

Rallying never did get better than the 90's & early 2000's. I could name 20 rally winning drivers from that era. There were tarmac specialists, Safari specialists. You were never sure who was going to win. It was great.

[didimatjila]

The 206 is so beautiful and one of my favourite rally car let alone my favourite peogeot rally car

[The_Amateur_Hour]

Jesus, Makinen and Burns there too. The rally generation I grew up watching. What a time to be alive.

[bsohos]

Bring those years back. Those drivers, those cars. What an amazing rally era

[beno]

I can smell the clutch and brakes
Roll on rally gb return

[geoundici]

at minute 1:40 Marcus says to Richard something like "next time :)

[peeetrsn]

It's nice to see all these guys and cars again:)

[lukasmagnusson]

Marcus was so apprehensive to Richard, I have always admired his fairness and honesty.

[louielouie]

We Didn't Expect For Peugeot To Become Manufacturers Champions Just A Year They Joined As A WRC Team

[ezkis]

Big time after Marcus.. Next champion its Kalle from Finland

[howdoifixmyspacebar]

one of the best sounding rally cars at idle

[garinakbar]

Marcus was so humble, that when he won the world championship instead of jumping like crazy and everything, he kept calm

[bobanppvc]

No facebook, instagram.Just focus and will to win

[garinakbar]

Juha and Tommi: This young lad had a potential...and he did it...he was World Champion

[yaroslavka]

Маркус с теплотой и грустью вспоминает свое первое чемпионство🏆 а 206-й красив и хорош и через 20 лет))

[ondraspendlik]

I don't really get why people complain so much about current rallying. I mean, isn't it still the same?
We have some great cars, except they're faster (and sadly, look more similar), just too bad there aren't more brands taking part.
We have a bunch of great drivers fighting at the top, and they have great personalities too. We have Theirry Neuville, who's basically Mr. Always Second, waiting for his first title. Remember Richard Burns, who was as of the end of the 2000 season twice in a row second, waiting for his first title too? We have Ott Tanak, who won one title and became a national hero, just to meet bad luck after switching teams, similarly to Colin McRae. We have Sebastien Ogier, who won his fair share of titles, but still wants to prove he can win more, just like Tommi Makinen at the time. We also have Elfyn Evans, who was collecting experience in slower WRC cars for a few years, and now he's on his way to his first title in the first season with a top team, just like Marcus Gronholm at the time. We also have sporadic appearances from Sebastien Loeb, just like Juha Kankkunen. We also have a Spanish veteran, who took a single surprising win, this time Dani Sordo, back then Carlos Sainz.

Perhaps we're not visiting Safari Rally (but it's coming back), but we have events all over the world and on all surfaces.
There is still drama, drivers losing the rally in the last stage, retiring from a good position due to mechanical failures or crashing out while trying to catch up. And it is still very emotional.
I guess it's just nostalgia, but perhaps in ten years, people will be remembering Loeb's 9 titles just like Schumachers 5 in a row in F1, or remembering how great the 2020 cars were.

[andrewdrabble]

This is when rallying was worth watching. In the days before Seb Loëb

[Joselo]

"This team is based on friendship"...I think Delecour and Panizzi didn't get that

[strahinjastevic]

Both a manufacturers and drivers title on only their first full season...